W Kratkę magazine and Fundacja Dom Kultury took part in an amazing artistic event by Jenny Brockman: Entanglement 4 #Melody that tool place in Kassel as part of #documenta 15.
We were accompanied by artists taking part in our foundation’s activities in prisons, including Małgorzata Jabłońska and Piotr Szewczyk from the Wrocław Department of Graphics at SWPS University and Józek Gałązka.

Jenny Brockman Entanglement 4 #Melody

documenta 15

Kassel 2022

The artistic activities with the project participants were prepared to be performed in a circle, within an installation created by Jenny Brockmann. The activities were participatory but artist-initiated. The activities metaphorically alluded to the situation of imprisonment, and had sound-making potential – the objects prepared by the artists could be used as specific musical instruments. The objects, thanks to the interaction of the users, also changed and enriched their visual layer and were art works in progress.

Małgorzata Jabłońska

Małgorzata Jabłońska’s objects consisted of large sieves (which are usually used for sifting flour). They functioned as a substrate for building a joint composition from the artist’s original pictograms, available to participants in the form of foil stickers.

Together, the participants created a visual composition from the 'prison’ pictograms: figures, abstract shapes and objects. It was a time of reflection through action.

The imposed working space, selecting only from a range of available elements, the necessity to adapt to the existing surface (pre-made by the artist) as well as to other people working together on the composition, corresponded to the limited possibilities of arranging the world inside prisons.

Some of the pictograms came from Małgorzata Jabłońska’s illustrations for the 'W Kratkę’ magazine, while others were designed specifically for the activity.

The pictograms of objects with which the participants worked were things neglected in life at large, which become important only in the prison reality, ensuring easier functioning or survival – mentally and physically.

Technically, the pictograms were applied to a surface – the net of the sieves. Later, after Entanglement #4 had already been completed, the objects were covered with paint and the stickers were removed, ensuring that, thanks to the translucency of the sieve, all the elements penetrated into the structure of the 'grids’. During the performance, it was possible to generate sound with the sieves.

Piotr Szewczyk

In Piotr Szewczyk’s performance, participants worked with his original drums, which were made up of customised metal basins (the basin is an important part of everyday prison life!) and a canvas covered with a painting surface. Through the use of unusual sticks with abrasive tips, people taking part in the activity made sounds and, at the same time, interfered with the surface of the painting. The final painting was a product of movement, force of abrasion, the amount and involvement of the participants.

Józek Gałązka

The work entitled 'Strings’, which I presented during Jenny Brookman’s discursive performance, was a continuation of the object/sculpture structure prepared by the artist as part of her 'Bypass’ project. I prepared simple harnesses connected by nylon strings that paired participants together. I wanted to create a situation in which the participants in the project are entangled with each other, but can produce a common melody by working together. By appropriately tightening or loosening the title strings, the participants combined with Jenny Brookman’s object to create a living instrument.

During the meeting, we also shared the experience of working and running workshops in prisons. The musical improvisation we found ourselves in brought the participants closer to the group workshop method.

The activities were curated by Antek Burzyński.

Photos: Justyna Domasłowska Szulc, Ada Szulc